This disclosure relates to an electronic device, and in particular relates to an electronic device including a unit that is detachably mounted on a main body, such as an image forming apparatus.
A conventional electrographic image forming apparatus such as a printer, copying machine, facsimile, multifunctional device, or the like adopts a setup in which a unit such as an image forming unit or the like is mounted detachably on a main body. When an electrical connection is required between the main body and the unit, a setup is known in which a main-body side connector provided on the main body is connected with a unit side connector provided on the unit.
An image forming apparatus having such a setup may be associated with a risk that a substrate of the main-body side connector undergoes electrostatic breakdown caused by flow of static electricity from the body of an operator such as a user or service personnel (hereinafter simply referred to as “an operator”) into the substrate of the main-body side connector through a terminal of the main-body side connector, when a hand of the operator comes into contact with the terminal of the main-body side connector during retraction of the unit to troubleshoot a jam. A setup is known in which a static electricity prevention member is disposed in a periphery of a terminal of a main-side connector to thereby prevent contact of a hand of an operator with a terminal on the main-body side connector.
It is preferred that the static electricity prevention member is disposed as close as possible with respect to the terminal at the main-body side connector, such that the static electricity prevention member securely prevents the hand of an operator from coming into contact with the terminal of the main-body side connector. However, a space is required in a periphery of the terminal of the main-body side connector for engaging the main-body side connector with the unit-side connector. Accordingly, it is required that the static electricity prevention member be disposed so as not to interfere with this space. As a result, it has been difficult to dispose the static electricity prevention member sufficiently close to the terminal of the main-body side connector.